Here is our growing archive of photographs taken by footplatemen. These pictures are sometimes a very personal record. Young men are pictured with their workmates, who they may have been at school with and who often went on to become respected colleagues and lifelong friends.
For some of these young men a job on the railway was a start in adult life following a family tradition. They had entered what was largely a man's world, treading a path which - with attention to duty, keeping out of trouble, good health and fitness, and patience while awaiting promotion - could eventually lead to appointment as a top link fireman, and ultimately driver, on one of the world's most prestigious high speed main lines. In the first half of the 20th century this was many a schoolboy's dream.
We are very grateful to Grantham railwaymen and their families for lending these evocative photographs to Tracks through Grantham.
Boris Bennett was a cleaner and fireman at Grantham between 1940 and 1947. On 8th September 2013, having celebrated his 90th birthday the previous month, Boris attended the display of No.4468 Mallard at Grantham station . Afterwards, in a letter, he recalled wartime conditions on the railways, comparing Mallard's appearance during the war with her exhibition finish today: I had the good fortune to have fired No.4468 when she was allocated to Grantham Shed during the war. She was painted in unlined black and had a good layer of soot, oil and coal dust, yet was no less impressive.
Boris has brought together a marvellous collection of photographs, press cuttings, drawings and much other fascinating material which is included in his own story here.
Front row (L to R): Charlie Torr (Cleaners' Chargehand), Wilf Gooch, Jack Bottomley, John Tom Harrison, Jack Harrison, Wilf Ryder, unknown.
Second Row: unknown, Bill Rimmington.
Back Row: Tommy Staples, Bill Bainbridge, Fred Reeve(?), Maurice Emmett, Len Thurlby, unknown.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett; copied from an original print owned by Don Gooch, son of Wilf.
Left to right: unknown, unknown, Jack Bottomley, Wilf Gooch.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett; copied from an original print owned by Don Gooch, son of Wilf.
Standing left to right: Albert Willis, Albert Bottomley.
Sitting left to right: Jack Wylie, George ‘Boc’ Taylor, Lawrence Reeve.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Boris writes, “When I started at Grantham in November 1939 this locomotive had been based at the shed from new in 1923. Kept in pristine condition, she had been allocated to the top crews – driver W. Carman and fireman Rodgers at that time.”
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Lent by Boris Bennett.
Front: (L toR) Stan Bond, Dick Cook(e?).
Middle Row: 'Pim' Stevens, Ernie Worthington, Alf Rudkin, 'Sos' Harris, George Lancaster, Gerry Isaac.
Back Row: Albert Willis, Stan Nicholls, unknown, unknown.
On the right is the shed's neatly stacked reserve stockpile of coal, a precaution in case regular supplies by rail from the Yorkshire pits should be interrupted.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Back row: Bambridge(?), Bill Perkins, Albert Willis, Gerry Isaac, George Lancaster.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Left to right: drivers Fred Seal, Frank 'Tiny' Lawson, Wilf Gooch and George Coy.
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Left to right: Mr Swift (fitter's mate), Teddy Brown (fitter who repaired injectors), George Bennett, Cyril Richardson (Loco boss), Frank 'Tiny' Lawson (driver), Wilf Gooch (driver), George Coy (driver).
Photograph lent by Boris Bennett.
Here is a link to a splendid photograph of Grantham locomotive cleaners with gleaming Great Northern Railway Class C1 large Atlantic No. 1418:
Roy Vinter was a cleaner, passed cleaner and fireman at Grantham 'Loco' between August 1957 and December 1963. In December 1958 Roy was transferred on loan to King's Cross shed in London, along with several other young Grantham firemen. Drivers at King's Cross were being trained on diesel locomotives and the 'passed firemen' there (men who had qualified as drivers but were still working as firemen while they awaited driver vacancies) were covering the driving duties. Roy and his mates from Grantham shed were called up to cover the resulting shortage of firemen. They mainly worked on the suburban passenger services, but they did occasionally get trips on the main line so might appear back at Grantham shed as a visitor, heading south again an hour or two later on a return working.
The photograph was taken in mid-1963 by Fred Harris, also a fireman.
Photograph lent by Roy Vinter.
The photograph was taken in mid-1963 by fellow fireman Fred Harris who, Roy says, had 'a posh camera' which took better pictures than the normal snaps of the time.
Photograph lent by Roy Vinter.
Photograph lent by Roy Vinter.
John Aldous was born near Grantham but he grew up in Suffolk. Having moved back to Ancaster with his family, at the age of 18 John joined the railway at Grantham 'Loco' where, after a short period as a cleaner, he became a fireman. He worked many trips over the High Dyke Branch on O2 locomotives hauling ironstone. The O2s, known as 'Tangos', were a heavy freight version of the express passenger A3 class, among which was Flying Scotsman.
When Grantham shed was due to close John applied to transfer to Stratford in east London to continue working on the footplate. This was agreed, but in the event he ended up leaving the railway to work at RAF Cranwell. Just a few months after he started there he received a letter asking him to consider returning to the railway at Grantham. This he would have seriously considered, but for a union requirement that the period he'd already worked as a fireman would not be counted and he would effectively be re-joining as a cleaner. John spent the rest of his working life in local industry including a long spell at Aveling Barford's, a world-renowned manufacturer of road rollers and dumper trucks for the mining, quarrying and construction industries.
Photograph lent by John Aldous.
The small plate near the bottom of the smokebox door (40B) denoted that the engine was based at Immingham, and the 'SC' tells us that it has self-cleaning apparatus installed, which reduced the need to clear ash from the smokebox.
Photograph lent by John Aldous.
Photograph lent by John Aldous.
George Fielding joined the railway at Grantham on January 17th 1955. He remembers the 2-week ASLEF strike in May/June 1955 because he learned to swim while off work for the fortnight. As a young man he competed in athletics, football and boxing through membership of the Grantham Branch of the BRSA (British Railways Staff Association) - the 'Railway Club'. George gained the nickname ‘Tiggy’ from Tiggy Fielding, a character in the popular radio serial Mrs Dale’s Diary.
Photograph lent by George Fielding.
Photograph lent by George Fielding.
Peter Wilkinson, former cleaner and fireman at Grantham, sent this note to me in December 2013 when he saw the photograph above: I was delighted to see a photo of Bert Rudd. He was my one and only ‘rostered’ driver but, strange to say, I hardly ever fired for him after that period, due to the peculiar seniority system that was always difficult to explain to anyone who wasn’t involved with it. I had been with Bert a lot during my time, and his, ‘on the Shed’, preparing and disposing of engines - which was, of course, where I got to know him well. He was a good man to be with, both ‘on the Shed’ and ‘on the Road’.
Phil Cunnington kindly lent the three photographs below.
Photograph lent by Phil Cunnington.
W P (Bill) Allen CBE started his railway career as a cleaner on the Great Northern Railway at Hornsey, north London, and rose through the ranks to become a driver. He also rose through the ranks of the footplatemen's union ASLEF, becoming its General Secretary in 1940. He was later appointed a member of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, the body created in 1948 under transport nationalisation to oversee the operation of British Railways.
Photograph lent by Phil Cunnington.
Back: William Ernest 'Lofty' Shields
Front: Jack Garton, Phil Cunnington
Photograph lent by Phil Cunnington.
Lent by Boris Bennett.
Peter Wilkinson worked at Grantham ‘Loco’ from March 1948 until August 1954, initially as an engine cleaner and then as a fireman. This is a selection of his photographs. Peter’s recollections of the six years he spent as a railwayman at Grantham are here, accompanied by more of his pictures.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
The locomotive is a Great Northern Railway Large Atlantic, class C1, No.62822. The Ivatt Large Atlantics were sucessful and highly regarded Edwardian locomotives, designed to haul express pasenger trains between London and Yorkshire on the East Coast Main Line. They had been familiar at Grantham since the first one was built in 1902. By 1949 No.62822 was one of the last in service, working out its final years on local trains.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Sir Murrough John Wilson had been Deputy Chairman of the London & North Eastern Railway. He was MP for Richmond in Yorkshire between 1918 and 1929.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
On the left is No.60021 Wild Swan of Grantham shed. It carries the pre-nationalisation (LNER) livery of 'garter blue', the colour in which sister locomotve Mallard set the world speed record for steam in 1938.
On the right No.60028 Walter K Whigham, of King's Cross shed, has been painted by British Railways in an experimental and short-lived deeper blue in an effort to canvas public opinion on the choice of a future livery for Britain's express passenger locomotives. The colour finally settled on was green.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
In the right background is the tank of the water softening plant, which removed scale-forming minerals from the local water before it was supplied to locomotives. This improved the efficiency and prolonged the life of the boilers. A reserve of coal is stacked in the heap beyond the locomotive.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
This photograph was taken in 1948 or 1949. In 1937 a mechanical coaling plant had superseded the coal stage, though it remained on standby for use when the coaling plant broke down or was under maintenance. At the top left of this picture are some of the skips in a tidy row ready for use.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Photograph lent by Peter Wilkinson
Lent by Peter Wilkinson.
Ken Willetts followed his father, Jim, onto the footplate at Grantham and lent this photograph.
The date of this photograph is not known but it would be the mid-1960s.
Photograph lent by Ken Willetts (Jim's son).
Sidney Foweather
Photograph taken by Jack Ray, used with permission from Paul Bulmer.
Joe Bell kindly sent us the photograph below of his grandfather William 'Billy' Bell, who began his working life on the railway at Grimsby where his father was a goods guard. This is the only picture we've seen showing a Grantham footplate crew in the shed's 'time office'.
Photograph kindly lent by Joe Bell.
William Bell later became a driver at Grantham but, sadly, he died suddenly on the footplate of a stationary locomotive at Grantham in December 1972 at the age of 53.
Wilf Ryder. Graham Ryder lent the photograph below of his father, a driver at Grantham Loco. Wilf is among a group of Grantham engine cleaners in a photograph of about 1922 which is at the top of this page.
Photograph lent by Graham Ryder
'Charlie' Isaac and Dennis Fovargue
Gerard 'Charlie' Isaac appears as a cleaner in two group photographs above, taken in the 1930s. Here he is in the 1960s as a Driver. His regular fireman was George Fielding, who is also seen in photographs above.
Charlie's granddaughter tells us that 'during the war Grandad Isaac used to drive trains to London during the night, so mum tells me, loaded with ammunition from from Marco's or 'the bullet factory' at Grantham as it was known.' (Marco's was the British Manufacture and Research Company)
Dennis Fovargue was a good friend of fellow fireman John Aldous. Dennis stayed on the railway as a Guard when Grantham Loco closed, but eventually he left and went to Aveling Barford's, where John also worked.
Photograph lent by Doreen Fovargue via John Aldous.
These photos brought back many happy memories of my time at Grantham loco as a passed cleaner (1956-61). When was the turntable decommissioned, as it wasn't there when I was?
Hello Eddie,
Thanks for writing in - it's much appreciated. We're really pleased to hear that you enjoyed the photos too. You might find some of the other pages equally absorbing. If you'd like to send us some of your own memories (e.g. of people, incidents or events) I'm sure they will add yet more colour to the story. You can email us at tracksthroughgrantham[at]outlook.com (please make the obvious change before sending).
The large turntable at Grantham loco was definitely out of action by April 1950. We think 'the angle' was in use by 1951. If anyone has definitive dates please get in touch.
John Clayson
An excellent set of photographs - it's always good to see them including Railwaymen for the human interest. Thanks for sharing.
Best wishes.
We're pleased you enjoyed the photos Peter. We add more from time to time so keep looking in.
John Clayson
My family have quite some history with the age of steam: father, uncles and Grandfather Wilf shown in your photos.
Great many thanks
Kindest Regards
Tim Gooch. (Grantham)
Wonderful and informative website. It was lovely to see some photographs featuring my late father-in-law 'Lofty' Shields. Sadly my daughter never met her grandfather, so being able to show these photographs to her will please her immensely as we do not have either of the two pictures among the family photographs.
Thanks very much Angela - it's messages like this which encourage us to continue expanding our project to take in more of Grantham's railway history. If we receive any more pictures of 'Lofty' we'll let you know.
John Clayson
Hello. I have been trying to find any info or pics about my grandad who I think was a main line driver. I think he started in 1920 and retired in 1965. His name was Walter Thomas Kettle and he lived at 105 Belton Lane grantham. Thanks, Ian.
Hello Ian,
Thank you for getting in touch. I'm pleased to say that your grandad's name is listed towards the end of Roy Veasey's article about his life on the railway on our site here - scroll down to the alphabetical list of drivers. We don't have anything more than this about him, unfortunately. If you look on a family history site such as Ancestry there's a good chance that you could find out more there.
John Clayson
The two cleaners on 60929 were me and Paul (Lenny the Lion) Watson.
Hello Dennis,
Thanks for getting in touch to let us know - I'll add your and Paul's names to the caption of the photo. It's always great to hear from people who recognise themselves from pictures we've published.
All the best,
John Clayson
Wow such an amazing collection of photos. My maiden name is Rimmington and I think William Rimmington (Bill) was my grandad's brother.
My dad also worked on the Belvoir Ironstone railway so I can't wait to show him your website.
Thanks Michelle.
We’re delighted to hear that you are enjoying our website and have found a member of your family in one of these evocative photographs.
Thanks for your interest.
John
Hello,
I came across your website and enjoyed the history you have collated. I was looking for any references to my grandfather Charlie Tuckwood but unfortunately couldn’t see anything on here.However the driver on Royal duty with Billy Bell could be Charles Tuckwood.
Best regards,
Neil
We're pleased to hear that you've enjoyed Tracks through Grantham. I've sent you direct by email some information about your grandfather, and also an update on the photograph of Billy Bell. We've recently found out that the driver was Bob Morris. I have now amended the description of the image.
Thank you for getting in touch.
John Clayson
Thank you John,
I have replied directly via email - thank you very much for your reply and attachments.
Best regards,
Neil